PSALM LXXXIV.
How amiable, how fair,
O Lord of Hosts! to me
Thy tabernacles are !
My flesh cries out for Thee;
My heart and soul, with heaven-ward fire
To Thee, the living God, aspire.
The sparrow here finds place
To build her little nest;
The swallow's wandering race
Hither return and rest;
Beneath thy roof their young ones cry,
And round thine altar learn to fly.
Thrice-blessed they who dwell
Within thine house, my God!
Where daily praises swell,
And still the floor is trod
By those, who in thy presence bow,
By those, whose King and God art Thou.
Through Baca's arid vale,
As pilgrims when they pass,
The well-springs never fail,
Fresh rain renews the grass;
From strength to strength they journey still,
Till all appear on Zion's hill.
Lord God of Hosts! give ear,
A gracious answer yield;
O God of Jacob! hear;
Behold, O God! our shield;
Look on thine own Anointed One,
And save through thy beloved Son.
Lord! I would rather stand
A keeper at thy gate,
Than on the king's right hand
In tents of worldly state;
One day within thy courts, one day,
Is worth a thousand cast away.
God is a sun of light,
Glory and grace to shed; God is a shield of might,
To guard the faithful head :
O Lord of Hosts! how happy he,
The man who puts his trust in Thee!
LORD! Thou hast been thy people's rest
Through all their generations,
Their refuge when by danger prest,
Their hope in tribulations;
Thou, ere the mountains sprang to birth,
Or ever thou hadst form'd the earth,
Art God from everlasting!
The sons of men return to clay,
When Thou the word hast spoken,
As with a torrent borne away,
Gone like a dream when broken:
A thousand years are, in thy sight,
But as a watch amid the night,
• Or yesterday departed.
At morn, we flourish like the grass
With dew and sunbeams lighted,
But ere the cool of evening pass,
The rich array is blighted:
Thus do thy chastisements consume
Youth's tender leaf and beauty's bloom;
We fade at thy displeasure.
Our life is like the transient breath
That tells a mournful story;
Early or late, stopt short by death;
And where is all our glory?
Our days are threescore years and ten,
And if the span be lengthen'd then,
Their strength is toil and sorrow.
Lo! thou hast set before thine eyes
All our misdeeds and errors;
Our secret sins from darkness rise,
At thine awakening terrors:
Who shall abide the trying hour?
Who knows the thunder of thy power?
We flee unto thy mercy.
Lord! teach us so to mark our days,
That we may prize them duly;
So guide our feet in Wisdom's ways,
That we may love Thee truly;
Return, O Lord, our griefs behold,
And with thy goodness, as of old,
O satisfy us early!
Restore our comforts as our fears,
Our joy as our affliction;
Give to thy church, through changing years,
Increasing benediction;
Thy glorious beauty there reveal,
And with thy perfect image seal
Thy servants and their labours.
CALL Jehovah thy salvation,
Rest beneath th' Almighty's shade;
In his secret habitation
Dwell, nor ever be dismay'd:
There no tumult can alarm thee,
Thou shalt dread no hidden snare;
Guile nor violence can harm thee,
In eternal safeguard there.
From the sword at noon-day wasting,
From the noisome pestilence,
In the depth of midnight blasting,
God shall be thy sure defence:
Fear not thou the deadly quiver,
When a thousand feel the blow;
Mercy shall thy soul deliver,
Though ten thousand be laid low.
Only with thine eye, the anguish
Of the wicked thou shalt see,
When by slow disease they languish,
When they perish suddenly:
Thee, though winds and waves be swelling,
God, thine hope, shall bear through all;
Plague shall not come nigh thy dwelling,
Thee no evil shall befall.
He shall charge his angel-legions,
Watch and ward o'er thee to keep,
Though thou walk through hostile legions,
Though in desert-wilds thou sleep:
On the lion vainly roaring,
On his young thy foot shall tread;
And, the dragon's den exploring,
Thou shalt bruise the serpent's head.
Since, with pure and warm affection,
Thou on God hast set thy love,
With the wings of his protection
He will shield thee from above:
Thou shalt call on Him in trouble,
He will hearken, He will save,
Here for grief reward thee double,
Crown with life beyond the grave.
THE Lord is King;-upon his throne
He sits in garments glorious;
Or girds for war his armour on,
In every field victorious:
The world came forth at his command;
Built on his word, its pillars stand;
They never can be shaken.
The Lord was King ere time began,
His reign is everlasting;
When high the floods in tumult ran,
Their foam to heaven up-casting,
He made the raging waves his path;
-The sea is mighty in its wrath,
But God on high is mightier.
Thy testimonies, Lord! are sure;
Thy realm fears no commotion,
Firm as the earth, whose shores endure
Th' eternal toil of ocean:
And Thou with perfect peace wilt bless
Thy faithful flock;-for holiness
Becomes thine house for ever.
O COME, let us sing to the Lord,
In God our salvation rejoice;
In psalms of thanksgiving record
His praise, with one spirit, one voice!
For Jehovah is King, and He reigns,
The God of all gods, on his throne;
The strength of the hills he maintains,
The ends of the earth are his own.
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